Sweat
by Stardust Drifter
Summary: Clarke Griffin is the leader of an NGO working to save rhinos that are victims of poaching in Southern Africa. Journalist Lexa Woods is coming to do a piece on the organisation. Neither of them intend to get swept up in something more…
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any characters or content from the TV series _the 100._ I did make up this story though.

As the story progresses there will be descriptions of people falling in love with each other, and doing things that people do when they are in love. These people will be of the same gender. If that gets you in trouble with the law where you live, or if it's not your cup of tea, you might wanna look elsewhere for entertainment.

 **Author's note:** Hey! Just putting this out there to see if you might be interested. The first thing I ever published on here, so bear with me, I'm still learning.

Clarke Griffin wiped the sweat of her brow using the dusty sleave of her shirt. Taking a few deep gulps from the canteen in her hand, she looked over at her colleague and best friend, giving her an exasperated look.

"Raven, we have been walking for hours! Are you sure that 'source' of yours was telling the truth?"

"Griffin, do you really doubt my people skills? Sibusiso haven´t let me down yet. Of course, his directions tend to be somewhat… creative, but we should be getting close once we get over this hill"

Clarke only sighed, shouldered her backpack again and once again wiped her brow, cursing the African sun and the heat and those _damned_ poachers.

Raven had gotten a tip from one of her trusted sources yesterday that another Rhino had been found deep in the Kruger National Park, dead and with its horn removed. By no means a new thing, but the source, Sibusiso, had said that a calf had been spotted nearby, and it seemed the dead rhino was its mother. The calf had appeared wounded. Knowing that a wounded rhino calf could not manage long in the harsh South African bush, Clarke and Raven had set out to locate the animal so they could radio to their friends back at the base and get them to come do a pickup with the helicopter. They needed to move in on foot first, so that they could get a shot in with the tranquilizer-gun before the rhino cub heard the helicopter and ran off in a fright.

The only problem was that Sibusiso tended to…downplay the distances a bit. "Just over that hill, and then straight for a while" had turned out to mean a four hours walk in the scorching heat through dense bush vegetation. No matter, it was nothing new to the two women, they would walk until they found the calf.

Raven removed a tranquilizer-gun from her pack, and loaded it up with a dart. She then shouldered her backpack, rested the weapon across her shoulders and set off after Clarke up the steep hill. She was just about to call something out to her best friend when the blonde woman stopped dead in her tracks and crouched down, signalling to Raven with her right hand. Raven immediately mirrored Clarke, crouching down and slowly approaching the top of the slope. Once there, she was met with a heartbreaking sight; the rhino calf was nestled against its dead mother, just barely moving its head from time to time. It probably hadn´t gotten any food or water for days, and was close to following it´s mother in death.

Raven slowly lifted her gun, took aim and pulled the trigger. The dart hit the rhino cub squarely in the shoulder, the cub flew up in a fright, stumbled a few steps and then fell over, heavily sedated.

Clarke wasted no time in getting up and approaching the knocked-out animal, checking it for wounds and trying to assess how badly it was hurt. Raven stayed back, removing a satelite phone from her pack.  
"Hey Bell, we found it… yeah, it´s cool, we got it down cleanly". She looked at her GPS- tracker and read off the coordinates, then ended the call and walked over to her friend.

Carke looked up when hearing her friend's footsteps, looking at Raven through tearful eyes. "This never gets any easier".

Together, they wrapped the rhino cub into a harness, readying it for the helicopter-ride. Then they took pictures of the killed mother and marked the spot on a map.

As Clarke measured the dead animal's length and size, Raven walked in a wide circle around the area. After a while, she let out a small cry of victory, bent down and picked up something small and shiny from the ground. Securing the empty bulletcasing in a pouch at her belt, she returned to Clarke and as she approached, they both looked up at the arriving helicopter.

"WOODS!"

The voice thundered through the open office-landscape. A typical 16th floor in a typical New York skyscraper. Lexa looked up from her laptop. Years of working under _the_ Indra Porter had taught her that her bosses exclamations were not necessarily due to anything bad, but they definitely would turn that way if ignored even for a second. So Lexa swiftly stood up from her seat and made her way to Indras office.

"Ms. Porter"

Lexa stepped into Indras office, slightly out of breath.

"Lexa Woods", Indras voice thundered, "how many times have I told you to call me Indra?"

It was no secret among the staff of _Polis_ magazine that Lexa Woods was pointed out by _the_ Indra Porter herself to take over the reins once she retired. Lexa herself was secretly sure she would never manage to live up to the expectations of coming after _the_ Indra Porter, but for now she kept her mouth shut and enjoyed her time as head of the _Travel and Adventure_ section of _Polis_.

Lexa merely nodded, both women knowing that Lexa Woods would call Ms. Porter "Indra" just as soon as pigs started floating by outside her 16th floor window.

"I have an assignment", Indra said. Lexa looked up, letting Indra know she was listening.

"It is a piece on an organisation working on saving rhinos from poachers in South Africa. Very in-the-time stuff. This organisation is absolutely instrumental to saving the rhino population, but they have never allowed the media in before. They are going to let us do a one month immersive study where one of our people get to live with them in their camp and follow the work. Huge opportunity"

Lexa nodded along as Indra spoke. When the woman stopped, she straightened her back slightly and smiled as to confirm that she understood the importance.

"Sounds great Ms. Porter. Who do you suggest we send, and for when should we make the arrangements?"

Indra´s eyed gleamed, and a small smile tugged at her lips

"Your flight leaves at 5 am tomorrow".


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi folks! Sorry for taking a while to post this, I've been rather busy. Here comes another chapter, there is going to be a couple of backstory/build-up chapters before the real action starts.**

 **Disclaimer: I still own absolutely nothing except the storyline itself. Nothing too graphic in any sense in this chapter, maybe a couple of swearish words.**

"You did WHAT?", Raven thundered, staring daggers at Clarke. Bellamy "Bell" Blake, their helicopter pilot nodded his head sympathetically, agreeing wholeheartedly with Ravens sentiment.

"Oh calm down you two, you know what it's like. Our sponsors, remember the guys giving us money so we can _do this_ , are demanding that we let the media in to see what we are doing here", Clarke defended

"Yeah, but we have always agreed that journalists are a pain in the neck, and a waste of our time, Clarke", Bellamy whined.

"How are we going to be able to meet the most hectic period, in the middle of the drought when more rhinos then ever need our help, _and_ move out to the bush camp to run the rehabilitation programme, with some sissy journalist to take care of as well?" Raven countered.

Clarke looked at her two closest friends seriously, letting them know that she wholeheartedly aggreed with their statements, before explaining;

"It was an absolute demand this time. 'Allow for media exposure or we cut the funding'. I had no choice. One of the sponsors also have stakes in _Polis_ magazine, so they are going to be the ones running the story. I know you read them, Raven", Clarke added with a wink.

"Besides, if we are lucky they might choose not to run the story. I told them they had to be here by Friday because we are leaving for the bush camp. I'd like to see even _the_ Indra Porter getting somebody from Manhattan to Kruger in two days".

Lexa woke with a start. Checking the display on her cellphone, she found that the time was 2.30 am. She jolted awake and out of bed, and nearly fell over her open suitcase on the floor. _I must have fallen asleep while packing,_ she mused. Then she cursed Indra again for sending her to freaking _Africa_ on 20 hours notice, and cursed her some more for booking her a 5 am transatlantic flight. _Damn you, Porter._

She shoved her long brunette curls out of her eyes, and peered at the contents of the suitcase. Removing a few items, she made room for a book, some sunscreen and, after some consideration, her favourite summer dress. _Probably silly._ But her sister Anya had given her that dress, and Lexa had never found an occasion to wear it. It was long and black, with a slit up to her thigh and a generous view of her cleavage. Not something she could wear to work, and Lexa Woods was always working.

Closing up the suitcase, she packed her laptop, passport and another book as hand luggage, and then went to order a cab to the airport. Having confirmed the cab to arrive in 20 minutes, she grabbed the clothes she intended to travel in and slid into the shower.

Clarke closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. The discussion from befor with her teammates still annoyed her. _None of them get it_ , she thought, _do they even know how hard it is to get funding for anything these days?_ Of course they didn't. Clarke was handling that part of the operation.

Raven was the technician, making sure all their equipment ran smoothly, and together with Bellamy's younger sister Octavia she was also in charge of gathering information from the many safari guides operating in the park as they were often the first to notice poached rhinos. Clarke was also the veterinarian among them, in charge of rehabilitating the severely wounded rhinos that had managed not to die even after being shot, or any living calfs left behind like today, and having their horns dug out from their faces.

Usually, Clarke would go out with Raven or Octavia, much like today, to take a look at any observed animals. If they found a live rhino that they thought they could save they would call Bellamy with the helicopter and have the wounded animal transported back to camp where Clarke would patch them up the best she could. The rhinos would then stay in camp, sometimes for months, until they healed. Before release, Raven would equip them with a GPS-tracking collar so they could observe how the animals managed in the wild.

The last one in their little "family" was Octavia's long-term boyfriend Lincoln. An ex-millitary, he was now a park ranger and frequently went out with Bellamy in the helicopter looking for poachers. What he did when he encountered them, Clarke did not know. Neither Lincoln nor Bellamy spoke much of those tours, and everyone knew better than to ask. Truth be told, Clarke was not sure she even cared. She had seen too many rhinos with craters in their heads, left by poachers to die a slow and painful death.

Her thoughts having wandered, Clarke forced her attention back to the problem at hand. Even though she had stated earlier that there was a possibility that _Polis_ wouldn't be able to send someone on such short notice, Indra Porter was not known to admit defeat. Clarke knew there was an overwhelming likeliness that she would have a journalist on her hands come Friday morning, and she needed to make the preparations for bringing them to the bush camp for a month.

She quickly went through the budget, adding extra funding for one more person. She would send the bill to ms. Porter later. Then she updated the rations list to accommodate the extra mouth to feed; Octavia, Lincoln and Bellamy would go out shopping for supplies in the morning.

Then there was the issue of accommodation. Clarke sighed. The bush camp only had three tents, and she really couldn't justify buying another one just for this. So she would have to come up with sleeping arrangements. Lincoln and Octavia usually shared, so did Clarke and Raven, leaving Bellamy with a tent all of his own. _Well, not this time, Bell._

Lexa browsed the menu provided by the flight attendant. At least Indra had booked her a business seat, that was something. Still, two transfers before being picked up for a four-hour drive was not something Lexa was _ever_ going to be happy about. Even sitting in her plush seat sipping complimentary champagne which, Lexa snorted, was just plain _ridiculous_ at 6 am. Deciding on breakfast, Lexa leaned back in her seat and grabbed the remote for the in-flight entertainment system. _I wonder if they have "Lion King?"._


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! Two chapters in one night. I guess that's how it's going to be. You'll never know when I'll be posting, I'll never know when I'll be posting... I promise I'll do my best to not abandon this story though. You know what would help on that? Comments! Would be nice to know if anyone's actually reading this thing.**

 **Disclaimer: The creators of the TV series "The 100" have made up a whole cast of amazing characters. I'm not going to say anything about them then** ** _killing_** ** _off_** **the best characters... but there ya go. I borrow them and put them in my own story.**

 **This chapter includes nudity, mentions of a sexual relationship between two females, some oogling from Raven and some pain and sorrow. Oh, and a dead body. And hints of violence.**

 **Only Clarke in this one. Lexa's stuck in an airplane above the Atlantic.**

Clarke sighed contentedly as she let her body submerge in the hot bath, letting the water surround her and soothe her aching muscles. She could think of few things as satisfying as a bath. Unfortunately, water was scarce so she didn´t get many opportunities to indulge, even with the camp being self suficcient with water due to a clever system of collecting and purifying rainwater signed Raven Reyes.

Only on opportunities like this, where they had a surplus they couldn´t do anything else with did the resources allow for such a luxury. On this occasion it was the move to the bush camp. They had already tanked up as much water as they could transport, and Raven had been _quite_ pleased when she read the remaining levels, and immediately went about heating it. Now they were all scattered about camp in makeshift tubs, and Clarke knew she would have a very satisfied and relaxed team come supper time.

 _Good,_ she thought. _Might make them more lenient towards the whole journalist idea._ She knew they probably would still be quite unhappy about it, but maybe the current bliss could help them towards accepting the unevitable.

The water was really warm, and Clarke sat up in the tub to cool off some, her torso now above water and arms hanging out of the tub. She didn't want to end her bath quite yet, and once again she lost herself in thoughts about the journalist, how to cope with her team and the extra logistics.

"Griffin! I just got a call over the sat-phone and….oh!" Raven, having come bursting into the tent excitedly waving a piece of paper about now stood frozen, mouth agape.

"Raven!" Clarke clammered to cover up, resulting in her slipping in the tub and for a moment ending up completely submerged in the bath. Surfacing again, sputtering and rubbing her eyes, she took care to keep everything below her neck securely under water as she compsed herself.

"Raven," she said again, trying to get the attention of her tech who was still looking at her, but seemingly lost in thought. Upon hearing Clarkes voice, Raven seemed to snap back into action, looking at Clarke with a puzzled expression.

"Raven", tird time, "you said something about the sat phone?"

"Y-yeah, right, sat-phone. Indra Woods assistant called. She said to expect Lexa Woods at the Nelspruit airport tomorrow at 4 am."

"Lexa Woods… isn't that the travel journalist you've been obsessing about?" Clarke inquired.

"Well, yeah, I mean, not obsessing… but she is quite amazing. And hot. Ehm…" Raven was rambling, and Clarke decided to be merciful. Thanking Raven for the message, she sent her on her way. Upon exiting the tent Raven still had a slightly clouded gaze.

Clarke leaned back in the water, mulling over Ravens reaction to seeing her naked torso. It wasn't like she had never seen it before. She and Raven had shared a tent forever, and frequently changed clothes in the presence of each other. Yet, that look… Clarke recognised that look. No-one had looked at her like that since… Harper. Sighing, Clarke allowed her mind to wander where she usually denied it. Harper. The blond beauty had been the sixth member of their team, Lincoln's poacher-hunting partner and Clarkes… her what? Lover, certainly. Friend, as she had been to all of them. But more than that. Even though they had bever talked about it, Clarke had known it was about more than sex, for the both of them.

 _About a year ago, Lincoln had come stubling back into camp in the middle of the night in a really bad state. He and Harper had been gone for a couple of days, following leads on some poachers observed not far from their camp. They hadn't been able to get much out of him, but the following morning, Clarke and Bellamy had taken the helicopter and scanned the area Lincoln and Harper had been working in. After about an hour, Clarke had spotted something on the ground. From there, her memory went cloudy, but Harper's bloody and battered body, and her blonde hair sticking to a grizzly wound on the side of her head would stick in her memory forever._

 _They had cremated Harper and scattered her ashes from Bellamy's helicopter, across the lands she had protected with her life._

 _Lincoln never talked much about what happened. He went out with Bellamy the following day, and when they came back they both wore somber expressions, and were covered in blood though none of them appeared hurt. Since then Bellamy had accompanied him on his missions._

Clarke Closed her eyes, allowing one tear to fall from each. She knew there was nothing she could have done. She knew Harper had been perfectly aware of how dangerous what she and Lincoln did was. She knew Harper, like Lincoln and now Bellamy, was a hunter to the bone, was a killer. Even though they never talked about it, she knew Harper paid the price that it ultimately cost to keep the majestic animals they all loved alive.

They had talked about it once. The discussion had been about whether either of them would ever return to "civilisation", find a job, live in a city or even a town and not a tent. Clarke had been unsure. The real subject of the conversation, whether either of them pictured a life _together_ , had been unsaid.

 _"_ _I don't know, Clarke. I am not even sure I would be able to anymore."_

 _"_ _Don't say that, of course you would. You have so many skills, Harper. And this life… I mean, I love it and it is important, but there are so many more things to life as well. So much more than blood and dirt and the same fight over and over. Don't we deserve more, someday?"_

 _"_ _That's just it Clarke. I am not sure I can ever leave this fight, that it will ever leave me. I don't know that I deserve anything else. The things I've done…"_

 _"_ _Have been necesarry, Harper. They have been keeping us alive, and the animals. And despite it all, you are still here with me like this, still capable of being gentle, and kind, and thats why I… That's why you are so much stronger than this, H."_

"I loved you, Harper". Clarke whispered it, eyes still shut, two new tears trickling down her cheeks. Maybe admitting it would finally give her some closure. Arising from the now cold bath, Clarke dried off and put on a fresh set of clothes. Across camp, she could smell supper cooking.


End file.
